What Patents Could do to Literature (and other Software) at Law & Society Blog

What Patents Could do to Literature (and other Software)

Published by Hanno Kaiser June 21st, 2005 in Law and Society

The Guardian is running a great article by Richard Stallman that illustrates the effects of software patents by analogizing them to patents on literary ideas. Consider Stallman’s example of a hypothetical literary patent:

Claim 1: a communication process that represents, in the mind of a reader, the concept of a character who has been in jail for a long time and becomes bitter towards society and humankind.
Claim 2: a communication process according to claim 1, wherein said character subsequently finds moral redemption through the kindness of another.
Claim 3: a communication process according to claims 1 and 2, wherein said character changes his name during the story.

If such a patent had existed in 1862 when Les Miserables was published, the novel would have infringed all three claims - all these things happened to Jean Valjean in the novel. Hugo could have been sued, and would have lost. The novel could have been prohibited - in effect, censored - by the patent holder.

Of course, the patent holder would not have to be an author him- or herself. The only creative writing required would be the filing of patent applications.